Mrs Flannagan's Trumpet Read online

  Daisy did not look at him, but went on shaking the dice in the wooden container, and when she threw it on the table she said, ‘Five,’ before adding, ‘He was lying, that’s why.’

  ‘Lying?’

  ‘Aye, he said he didn’t know Mr Van. Well, I’ve seen them at least twice, no, three times, talking together. Once they were on the beach where we were the day, walking along it.’ She now turned and looked full at Eddie and asked quietly, ‘Why should he lie about that?’

  Eddie made no reply, only shook his head, but he said to himself, Aye, why should he lie about that?

  Chapter Four

  Eddie thought no more about Hal Kemp and the fact that he had lied about his acquaintance with the foreigner until nearly four weeks later. The time between had been taken up with his work and the longer trek to and from it, and also his twice-weekly visits to the Institute to further his study of engineering and the homework these entailed. Then there was the weekly letter to his mother. He might receive as many as three from her but he was sure she understood that he couldn’t manage more than one because letters took a lot of thinking about. He had told her he was so glad she was feeling better, that Penny was well and happy and was great pals with Daisy, and that he himself was in the best of health, although he got very tired towards nine o’clock at night and couldn’t wait to get to bed; and lastly, his granda was well, and his grandma…well, she was the same as ever. He once finished his letter with a joke, saying, ‘If I bawl at you when you come home don’t blame me; you will have asked for it by making me stay here.’

  He never mentioned Hal Kemp because he had nothing to say about the man except that he didn’t like him. That was until one Wednesday evening when he was hurrying back from work.

  His grandfather had mapped out the route for him. This shortened considerably the distance between the house and the dock, but even so it was almost dark before he reached the cliff top.

  Taking this route, his approach to the house was towards the back garden. He had thought recently that in future he would spend some time on a Sunday clearing a path through the bramble and rough scrub which would lead directly to the yard. There were one or two places where the railings were broken down and he had tried to make his way through from there but hadn’t got very far. A straight path would only save a couple of hundred yards or so but even that would be something, he considered, because he always felt dead beat by the time he had skirted the railings and come round to the front of the house, especially if there was a strong wind blowing off the sea, for it aimed to bend him backwards as it had done all the tangled greenery.

  But tonight he had just turned the bottom corner of the railings when he stopped and screwed up his eyes. The light was fading fast. Moreover, there was a high wind blowing and he thought for a moment he was imagining that the errant tangle of branches hanging over the railings had taken on the form of a man. Then, his vision clearing, he recognised that it was a man, it was Mr Van. But what was he doing? He was looking up over the garden towards the back of the house and he was whistling. The sound came to him on the wind. It was like a seagull’s cry, and yet it wasn’t; it was high pitched and the note was long.

  When the note stopped, the man continued to look upwards; then placing his hands over his mouth, he again made the strange sound, but louder this time.

  It was at this moment that Eddie remembered Daisy saying that Hal Kemp was lying, and he had no doubt in his mind that it was to Hal Kemp the man was calling.

  Slowly now Eddie looked towards where a few feet in front of him, the railings were sagging, almost providing a gap into the undergrowth beyond, and so, pressing back against them, he stepped tentatively over them and lowered himself down into the tangle of dead grass, weeds and scrub.

  He couldn’t see the man now but he would be able to hear if his Uncle Hal, as Penny dutifully called him, came out to meet him.

  Seconds take on the time of minutes when you’re waiting, and he felt he must have been waiting for at least fifteen minutes before he heard the steps coming through the undergrowth, and on the sound panic seized him. What if Hal Kemp found him here! He’d likely knock him cold. He crouched down until he was leaning on his elbows and the undergrowth formed a black canopy about him, and as he strained his ears it came to him that Hal Kemp must already have made a path from somewhere in the garden—its entrance likely well covered—to the outer railings.

  Time passed. He could hear nothing above the sound of the wind and he was about to rise upwards when the thud, thud of approaching footsteps brought him flat on the ground again; and the sudden drop almost caused him to yell out as a bramble pierced the palm of his hand.

  ‘I can’t wait much longer, they’re getting impatient.’

  That was Mr Van’s voice speaking his stilted English.

  And now Hal Kemp answering him: ‘It’s too risky, I’m telling you. I could get years. Anyway, some of these blokes around here would lynch me themselves.’

  ‘Nonsense! It’s being carried out all the time. And if anyone has been caught there’s those in high places who get them off. It’s for their benefit, isn’t it?’ The man’s laughter came to Eddie; and then the voice faded away, saying, ‘Anyway, you’re being well paid. And there’s more…’

  Eddie remained still. His eyes, stretched wide, gazed into the dark jumble of undergrowth. Hal Kemp was being well paid and by that Mr Van, but for what? And he had thought the man was nice, a gentleman. He was up to something. Smuggling?

  Well, it went on, although the coastguards were pretty hot along this stretch. But what were they smuggling, something coming in or something going out? And something big. What had Hal Kemp said? He could be lynched for it by the men around here.

  Again he was about to rise to his knees when he was brought stiff and taut by the sound of crushing undergrowth. Hal Kemp must have passed by and he hadn’t heard him. He began to sweat. What if he had stood up and come face to face with him? He’d better give him five minutes start to get into the house.

  But what was he up to? What? Should he tell his grandfather? No, no. His grandfather was an old man, it might worry him. Yet his grandfather knew that Kemp did a bit of smuggling on the side, or at least receiving, because didn’t he tell him to take some stuff to Biddy McMann? And wasn’t there always piles of butter and cheese and bacon and such in the house? It didn’t come by the grocery cart ’cos he’d seen the order that his granny left on the table. It had included a pound of bacon and a pound of butter, and the way they all ate, a pound of bacon and a pound of butter wouldn’t have filled their holey teeth.

  He emerged from the undergrowth, dusted himself down, then walked slowly along by the fence, round towards the front of the house and up the yard. And when he opened the kitchen door it was to see Hal Kemp standing in his usual pose with his back to the fire warming his buttocks, and the man yelled, ‘Make way for the workman! Let the master of the house sit down and have his meal. Putting us to shame he is. The only one who earns his bread.’

  ‘Shut up!’ As Eddie spoke he tossed his cap behind him onto a chair; then almost tearing off his coat while still keeping his eyes on Hal Kemp, he added, ‘And there’s something in what you say, for I can’t see you breakin’ your neck with what you do.’

  ‘You cheeky young swine!’ Hal Kemp was advancing slowly round the table towards him now, and Daisy was yelling, ‘Eeh! Stop it! Stop it, both of you!’ when the door opened and Mrs Flannagan entered and, taking in the situation straight away, she cried, ‘What’s this? Now what’s this?’

  Quickly Hal Kemp went towards her, but as he was about to pick up the trumpet from her breast she slapped his hand away and, putting the horn to her ear, she said, ‘Well, go on.’

  ‘I just made a joke, Auntie, and he turned on me. Bawled his head off, told me to shut up, and that I wasn’t pullin’ me weight here. Well, you tell him if I’m pullin’ me weight or not.’ He now nodded furiously towards Eddie as his hands, gripping his belt that slotted th
rough loops in his trousers, tugged savagely at the buckle and tightened it by one further loop before he swung round and left the room.

  Mrs Flannagan stared at Eddie. ‘You cheeked him?’

  ‘I gave him back as much as he gave me.’

  ‘She can’t hear you, man.’

  He didn’t look towards Daisy where she was gesticulating behind Mrs Flannagan’s back, but with an impatient movement of his head he went to his granny’s side and yelled into the horn, ‘I gave him as much as he gave me. He’s always skitting me.’ And only just in time did he stop himself from banging the horn down onto her chest.

  ‘You’ll get more than a skit before you’re finished, young man.’

  Not for the first time during the last few weeks did Mrs Flannagan again jump when her grandson grabbed her ear trumpet; and her face screwed up as his words resounded through her head: ‘Well, it won’t be from the likes of him. He’s no good…I’m telling you he’s no good. If you only knew.’ He turned abruptly away from her now—he’d let his tongue run off with him—but when his arm was gripped and he was pulled round towards her again and she said, ‘What should I know?’ he turned his head to the side and said, ‘Nowt.’ Then facing her, he mouthed the word, ‘Nowt.’ And again, ‘Nowt.’

  She let go of his arm but continued to stare at him. Then she turned her head slowly and looked towards the kitchen door, which Hal Kemp had banged closed in his departure, and what she said now, and in a moderate tone, was, ‘Get your wash and have your meal because you’ve got to be off again, haven’t you? You’re hardly in before you’re out. If you’d had any sense you would have gone to your home to wash, then gone on to the Institute from there.’

  He gaped at her, his mouth wide. The times he had wanted to do just that. But he’d thought it would get her back up and so he hadn’t proposed it. Eeh, she was a marler! All women were marlers…except his mother. He was tired and bored and fed up to the back teeth.

  During the time it took him to have his wash and change his clothes he made up his mind that he was going to confide the business of Hal Kemp and that Mr Van to his grandfather, but on entering the dining room he saw that his grandfather’s chair was empty. Presently when he still hadn’t put in an appearance at the meal he said in an aside to Penny, ‘Where’s me granda?’ and she, her head down, whispered back, ‘He’s got a cold, he’s in bed.’

  Hal Kemp’s seat too was empty; and he was glad of that for he doubted if he would have eaten anything if he’d been sitting opposite to him tonight.

  It was a comparatively quiet meal, and it wasn’t until the end of it that his grandmother spoke; and then she said, ‘If you can spare a minute of your valuable time you could look in on your grandfather, he’s in bed; but, of course, if you’re too busy…’

  Eddie closed his eyes for a moment, then stared at her, his lips pressed tight together, and on this she cried in her usual voice, ‘I know what you’re thinking, but you’d better not say it if you don’t want my hand across your ear.’

  Oh Lord, let him get out! Two more months of this, he’d go barmy, doolally-tap, up the pole, round the bend and back, the lot.

  Five minutes later he was standing by his grandfather’s bed. ‘How are you, Granda?’

  ‘Oh, I’m all right, lad. Just a bit wheezy in the chest, but she’s stuck me in here. Wants something to do to pass her time away, you know.’ He lifted his head from the pillow now and grinned at Eddie. ‘She can’t get the better of me when I’m standing on me legs, but I’m helpless when I’m in bed.’ He punched Eddie gently in the ribs, then said, ‘You off to your classes, lad?’

  ‘Yes, Granda.’

  The old man stared at him for a moment, then said, ‘What’s the matter, you’re looking a bit grim? Had a heavy day?’

  This was the time he could have said, ‘Aye, Granda, but it’s not the work that’s worrying me, it’s that fellow, Hal Kemp.’ But his granda wasn’t well. What was more he had to be on his way; he wanted to get to the class in time. Even now he doubted if he’d make it, yet he had the desire to linger and not only to talk to his grandfather but to take in this room.

  This was the first time he had been in his grandparents’ room. Daisy had told him that her mistress was very fussy about her bedroom, to the extent that she cleaned it herself and she didn’t like people trotting in and out. He glanced round it now in the light of the lamp. It wasn’t all that big and there was a resemblance to his own room next door in that the wall behind the bed was made up of stone blocks. And to the right of him was a cupboard similar to the one in his bedroom; this, too, took up nearly all the side wall. For the rest it was comfortably furnished with a thick carpet on the floor and an easy chair to each side of the bed, besides a big polished dressing table and wash-hand stand.

  ‘What’s wrong, lad? Are you missing your mother?’

  Realising he hadn’t answered his grandfather’s previous question, he said, ‘Yes. No. Well, it’s been a heavy day and…Aye, I do miss her, Granda.’

  ‘I can understand that, lad, ’cos she was always good company, even as a wee bairn, cheerful and sympathetic like, and she’s grown more so with the years. But don’t worry, she’ll soon be back and then you’ll be home again and it will be our turn to be lonely.’ He again poked his head forward from the pillow. ‘And we will, you know; your granny will miss you.’

  ‘What?’ The tone of the one word expressed his disbelief, and it caused his grandfather to wag his finger at him, while saying, ‘Now, now! You don’t understand your granny. But perhaps you will some day.’

  They looked at each other quietly for a moment before the old man said, ‘Go on, get yourself away. And take care, for the wind’s high. You hear it?’ He nodded towards the window. ‘It’s having a fight with the tide down there.’

  Eddie paused in turning from the bed and listened for a moment. Yes, it was as his granda said, the wind was having a fight with the tide, for every now and again it was as if the very sea was coming roaring under the house.

  Over the past few weeks he had become used to the sound and it didn’t irritate him so much now. At first he had likened it to his grandma’s voice. He wished he had got as used to her voice as he had to the sound of the sea. Aw well!

  ‘I hope you’ll be better the morrow, Granda.’

  ‘Oh, I’ll be up on my pins the morrow. Goodnight, Eddie.’

  ‘Goodnight, Granda.’

  In the kitchen he quickly pulled on his coat, and as he did so Daisy came to his side and whispered, ‘I’d look out if I were you; Mr Hal’s got it in for you.’

  ‘Don’t you worry about me. I can take care of meself.’

  ‘I don’t know so much.’

  ‘What do you mean, you don’t know so much? Just let him go for me and he’ll get more than he’s bargained for. I haven’t worked in the docks for the past eighteen months running up and down the sides of ships and swinging up hot rivets for nothing. I can hold me own.’

  ‘Daisy isn’t meaning that, Eddie.’ Penny was standing looking at him now. ‘She thinks there’s something fishy about him and she’s only telling you for your own good.’

  He looked from one to the other, then leaning towards Daisy, he said, ‘Now I’ll tell you something. There’s six and two three’s atween your wonderful Mr Van and him.’

  ‘What do you mean? Mr Van’s a nice gentleman.’

  ‘I don’t know so much. You remember what you said to me some time ago about Hal Kemp being a liar and saying he didn’t know that Mr Van?’

  ‘Ah-ha.’

  ‘Well, he not only knows him but I think they’re as thick as two thieves.’

  ‘What makes you say that?’

  ‘Oh, just something that I heard. An’ if I was you I’d be careful of your stone-gathering gentleman.’

  ‘Aw, I’d never mistrust Mr Van. I can tell a good ’un from a bad ’un, and he’s a nice man. Why, he even said he could get me a place in Belgium as a nursemaid if I wanted to change.’


  ‘He what!’

  ‘You heard. He said if I wanted to change me situation he could get me a place in Belgium as a nursemaid, perhaps to his own children.’

  Eddie’s mouth was open but his eyes were reduced almost to slits as he peered at her in silence now. Strange thoughts were galloping through his head, fantastic thoughts, thoughts that made him afraid. They were mixed up with snatches of conversation he had overheard among his workmates during such times as they sat having their bait, when they would push each other, and one, Billy Rainer, nearly always choked himself with laughter, so much so that he would roll on the ground.

  He heard his own voice asking as if from a distance, ‘What did you say to him?’

  ‘Oh, I said, thank you very much and that I might go over to his country one day for a trip when I stopped being afraid of the sea. I told him I’d only once been out in a boat an’ I was so sick I wanted to die.’ She paused here and thought for a moment, then said, ‘He told me that I could go on a big boat and it wouldn’t rock much, one bigger than the ferry.’

  ‘Daisy!’ He had her by the shoulders now and was actually shaking her. ‘You listen to me, now you take no notice of what he says, do you hear? An’ don’t speak to him again.’

  ‘Ger-away!’ She shrugged herself from his hands. ‘I will speak to him again. He’s been very kind to me and he’s always very nice an’ if him and Mr Hal’ve got their heads together it’s likely only over a bit of smugglin’. Butter, or baccy or some such, what everybody does. An’ I bet it was Mr Hal who talked him into it ’cos he could persuade a donkey to sell its hind legs, when he gets going.’

  Eddie stood considering her words. Very likely she was right. But then, on the other hand, recalling the snatch of conversation he had heard earlier, it appeared to him that Mr Van was in charge of whatever situation they were planning and not Hal Kemp. And what could a man smuggle that he could be lynched for? He was worried…But look at the time! Anyway, she wouldn’t be out till Sunday and afore that his granda would be about again and he would talk the matter over with him.